TOKYO: 27 October 2012 --
The
Salesian Family retreat in Japan has just concluded - 50
members
gathered under Mount Fuji at Yamanaka. A little later Fr
Klement held a
two hour meeting back in Tokyo with many members of the
Salesian
Family. throughout this week and for the meeting with the SF,
Fr
Achilles Loro Piana remained at his side as a translator.
As part of this latter meeting, Fr Klement invited 'open
questions',
and as can be expected many of them drew on his vast
experience as
Missions Councillor. ere is a sample of such questions or
comments:
Q1 - How is the Salesian presence in Muslim countries. Are we
able to
evangelise?
Q2 - How can a lay person work at the accompaniment of youth.
Can we
also prepare something for the Salesian Cooperators, or do it
together
as a Salesian Family in Japan?
Q3 - Young people, students living under pressure, do not find
it easy
to grow up, and are bullied. We need to understand their
situation and
know their problems.
Q4 - In Asia it is a grace to be a Christian, and a chance to
evangelise. What can we contribute as Japanese in Asia?
Q5 - We are three neighbouring countries (China, Japan, Korea)
with
some political tensions at the moment. But there are also some
experiences of sharing among us - new priests from Japan and
Korea are
meeting every 3 years.
Q6 - New frontiers for the Salesian
mission.
While responding in detail to particular questions,
Fr Klement also
spoke of the broader scene: the new name for the Catholic
CHurch is
'Mission' he told them:
"This evening we are gathered in Tokyo, Japan - some 400 years
after St
Francis Xavier reached the coasts of Kyushu and some 2000
years after
the first Pentecost - a missionary send off which happened in
Jerusalem
after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Indeed, for some 1900 years the Mission idea was about HOW to
reach
not-yet-evangelised territories, as we can see in the Atlas of
Global
Christianity (Edinburgh, ed. 2010). But in the past 50 years
with
globalisation and the new awareness of the Church (Second
Vatican
Council - 'Lumen Gentium'), this vision became much more
articulated.
We can notice some paradigm shifts: from mission
territories to
people to be evangelised; from preaching the Gospel to faith
sharing;
from Church implanting to never ending Church-building;
from
sending and receiving local Churches to the whole Church in a
state of
mission.
Today we find ourselves in a truly globalised world where
languages,
ethnic groups, cultures and religions are in touch as never
before in
human history. The adjective 'Catholic' means, more than ever
before a
Global, Universal, really World Church.
Today we, the Holy Father and the Bishops, talk to all
Catholics about
the need to evangelise, to be missionaries. To be a Christian
today
means more and more an urgent need to be missionary, to share
own faith
with others, anywhere in the world. We can't keep up our faith
if we
don't share it with others! Our faith grows more when we share
it
especially with non-Christians.
An event on Saturday 27th October in the Salesian Meguro
Parish in
Tokyo only served to underline these words - a prayer for
peace
involving Catholic, Shinto, Buddhist, Muslim, Riso Sheikai
participants
(see photos above).
